AMES, Iowa—Thomas Lograsso has been appointed assistant director for the Division of Materials Science and Engineering, or DMSE, at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. The appointment, which became effective immediately, was announced by Alex King, Ames Laboratory director.

Lograsso had been serving as program director for Ames Lab's Materials and Engineering Physics, or MEP, program. Under a reorganization plan, the MEP program has been combined with the Lab's Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Chemistry and Biomolecular Materials programs under the umbrella of the DMSE program. According to Director King, Lograsso's duties will be to handle administrative oversight responsibilities for the 17 programs and one center that make up the new DMSE. Lograsso will report to Patricia Thiel, Ames Laboratory division director for Science and Technology, who provides overall scientific leadership for the Lab.

"Tom has proven himself to be a very capable and effective administrator, leader and collaborator," said King, "and I am confident that he will help all of our DMSE programs to gain new levels of distinction."

Lograsso has been a materials scientist at the Ames Laboratory since 1988. He received his Ph.D. in 1986 from Michigan Technological University. Prior to coming to the Ames Lab, he was a research assistant at Argonne National Laboratory and a postdoctoral research associate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Lograsso has been a principal or co-principal investigator on 41 Ames Laboratory projects, he is the author of more than 280 publications and holds six patents. Lograsso received an Outstanding Scientific Accomplishment in Materials Chemistry award in 1998 and a Sustained Outstanding Research in Solid State Physics award in 1995 from the Department of Energy.